Hotline of power engineering specialists:
IDGC of Centre – Tambovenergo division held an event dedicated to Heroes of the Fatherland Day. It was attended by employees of the branch, representatives of the composite air regiment of the Tambov garrison and "Search Movement of Russia", heads of municipalities of the Tambov region.
The participants got acquainted with the history of the holiday and the history of the highest award of Heroes of the Fatherland - the George Cross, recalled Russian heroes from different eras. An honorary guest of the event, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, a former navigator, a retired colonel Alexander Bodnar told them about his military career. Alexander is 98 years old. He has 300 sorties behind him, 60 of which he made during the Battle of Stalingrad, for which he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad". He also has the Order of the Red Banner and Patriotic War of degree I and II, three Orders of Red Star, the medals "For Courage", "For Military Merit", "For Defense of Moscow" and "For Defense of Leningrad" as his battle honours. Despite his age, Alexander Bodnar is active in the patriotic education of the youth.
Representatives of the All-Russian Public Movement for the perpetuation of the memory of those killed in defense of the Fatherland "Search Movement of Russia" told about the research work carried out by a search party of the Tambov region "Soldiers of Memory", held by the organization expeditions to places of major battles and search of unburied soldiers. The movement has been cooperating with employees of Tambovenergo for about five years, as a result of working together they were able to establish the names of twenty dead pilots. Among, them - Ivan Goroshilov and Pyotr Smirnov, who died in October 1942 in the Tambov region. In November of this year with the support of the power company their commemorative obelisk was erected in the village of Sofinka in Umetsky district, where at the military airport from 1941 to 1943 the 752nd Long-Range Aviation Regiment was stationed, in which they served. The initiator of the idea was a native of Kirsanovo, a former military pilot and now the deputy chief for sale of services of Kirsanovsky Distribution Zone, Sergey Kolychev, who for more than ten years has been actively engaged in research activities to perpetuate the memory of participants of the Great Patriotic War. Thanks to his collaboration with the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense of Russia and the Tambov regional archives they have already managed to identify the names of more than twenty pilots of the 752nd Aviation Regiment.
Head of Umetsky district Alexander Suchkov addressed with words of gratitude to the management and staff of Tambovenergo:
"You spend a lot of work on patriotic education of the young generation. We need to cherish the memory of the heroes-countrymen, so than on their example to educate the youth in the spirit of patriotism and love to the Motherland. It is difficult to overestimate what employees of Tambovenergo do in this direction."
Heroes Day for employees of "Tambovenergo" is not someone else’s holiday. They take an active part in perpetuating the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. So with the support of the management and staff of the branch, since 2005, in the territory of the Tambov region the reconstruction of 35 memorials to military glory has been performed, and in October 2011 a memorial was built in the village of Kovylka in Kirsanovsky district. The nearest plans of the Tambov power engineers are to open two more monuments of pilots killed in combat missions in 1943. They are planned to be installed in the settlement of Green and the village of Podosklyay of Rasskazovsky district of the Tambov region.
